D-Day

The Western Allies land in Normandy and open up a new front against the Third Reich

With the Red Army advancing on Berlin from the East and British and American forces driving up through Italy in the spring of 1944, the whole world eagerly anticipated the next move: the Allied invasion of German-occupied France. Seeking to repel the landings necessary to implement this strategy, Hitler had ordered the construction of the “Atlantic Wall”, a series of fortifications along the French coast. Although the Allies could have landed almost anywhere in northern France, the German high command were persuaded by British and American deception tactics into believing that they were planning to land close to Calais. As a result, large formations of troops were concentrated along the stretches of coast closest to England.

“Decision Day”, or D-Day, marks the first day of a military operation. The combined air and sea invasion of France launched on 6 June 1944 took German forces by surprise. 170,000 American, British, French, Canadian, Polish and other Allied troops were landed on several beaches in Normandy, far from the expected battleground of Calais. As Hitler slept in late – and the German generals were afraid to wake him – but held overall control of Wehrmacht armoured units, the generals were not able to react quickly enough to prevent the Allies from establishing a bridgehead on the French coast. After consolidating their position, the Allies were able to proceed with the liberation of Western Europe. To many, Allied victory and the defeat of the Third Reich now seemed assured.